Why Chinese tourism to US is still rising despite Trump: ‘hard to replicate’

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By Ralph Jennings

Published August 30, 2025

When Gao Huasheng, a university professor from Shanghai, began planning a two-week family holiday to San Francisco earlier this year, he worried about exposing his children to scenes of drug use or even gun violence.

But in the end, the 44-year-old decided to go ahead with the trip – and his fears turned out to be misplaced. The family’s visit to the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom amusement park and road trip down the Pacific coast went off without a hitch.

“My children said it was exciting, not crowded and not hot,” Gao said, referring to Six Flags.

Many Chinese tourists appear to be making the same call in 2025: to travel to the United States despite a host of misgivings.

Chinese tourism to the United States is up so far this year compared with 2023 and 2024 levels, confounding the expectations of many pundits. But industry insiders say a growing list of deterrents – from inflation and safety concerns to visa snags – still threatens to push the numbers downward over the long term.

In the first six months of 2025, the US International Trade Administration logged 755,225 arrivals from China, up 2.57 per cent compared with the same period last year. Arrivals reached 410,306 in the first half of 2023.

Tourist departures from China to the US in July and August are expected to total about 316,000 this year, up from 269,000 last year and 52,000 in 2023, when China was still emerging from the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, travel marketing and technology company China Trading Desk told the Post.

For now, at least, Chinese tourists’ desire to visit famous American landmarks appears to be overriding their concerns over US President Donald Trump’s harsh border policies, which have led Chinese nationals to face tougher visa approvals and unexpected grillings at US immigration checkpoints in recent months.

“The US possesses globally iconic tourism resources that remain difficult to replicate elsewhere,” China Trading Desk CEO Subramania Bhatt said. “Natural wonders such as Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon and cultural landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty and Hollywood exert a powerful draw, particularly for first-time visitors seeking to check in at bucket-list sites.”

On trips to the US state of Utah this month, many Chinese visitors could be seen climbing the sun-baked red rocks of Arches National Park to take photos.

Visitors from China often put Los Angeles and New York City at the top of their US travel destination lists, followed by the national parks, said Sienna Parulis-Cook, marketing and communications director with the business consultancy Dragon Trail International. Los Angeles, she said, benefits from having the “best flight connections” with China.

But many tourists are going home keenly aware of the US’ drawbacks.

Liu Xiaohan visited friends in the United States for 10 days over the turn of the year to witness the holiday season in New York and catch a professional basketball game in Washington, DC.

The 21-year-old university student was wowed by both but felt “endangered” when witnessing a bloody knife fight on the street, a fire being lit in a subway train and a general lack of public transport.

America’s prices surprised 35-year-old Chinese tourist Xie Nai, who spent about a month in the US in May – her third trip to the country in 12 years.

“The biggest takeaway from this trip is that if US prices keep rising like this, in a few years it’ll really be unaffordable,” said Nie, who visited five states including California and New York.

“You really feel it when it comes to food. Grabbing a few snacks costs US$45. Cooking two meals for four people was about US$110,” she recalled. “People living in North America tell me that’s just ‘normal’ prices.”

China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism urged citizens to “fully evaluate the risk” of US travel in April in light of the country’s “worsening” economic ties with China. The countries have been locked in a dispute over tariffs and export controls since Trump returned to office earlier this year.

US visa processing for Chinese nationals is also getting tougher, with interview wait times averaging 289 days and the rejection rate rising to 47 per cent last year, up from 18 per cent in 2021, according to China Trading Desk.

Gao of Shanghai said it took the equivalent of two full days to do his visa application, which included an interview.

Tourism analysts said the US arrival figures were likely to flatline or drop if these obstacles persisted much longer.

Dragon Trail International projects the numbers to be “pretty stagnant or even see a slight decline” over the next six months, Parulis-Cook said.